


The Room

by PlatonicRabbit



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Mentions of hell, canon character death, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 05:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3638082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlatonicRabbit/pseuds/PlatonicRabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a room towards the back of the bunker that Dean never enters. It's a room where Sam keeps his memories; his tribute to family and friends who died for the Winchesters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Room

**If you're not reading this on AO3 it has been stolen.**

The room is hidden near the back of the bunker, because Dean doesn’t like it.

It had once been used for storage of something green and slimy and alive that had overgrown its container during the long decades of isolation. The slime monster had jumped on Dean’s face and tried to crawl down his throat. Castiel had quickly smote the evil science experiment and the three of them had agreed to never speak of the incident again. The room is kept locked for the most part, except when Sam needs to spend some time there.

Dean had objected the whole time Sam was decorating this space, and still shuddered theatrically whenever he happened to pass it. He gives the door as wide a berth as possible within the narrow hallway.

There is very little furniture in this room. Just one armchair that Sam dragged in from the library and a woeful-looking potted bay laurel he’d felt compelled to bring in, despite the fact that the lack of sunlight would probably kill it. Sam had hopes its presence would help. 

The only other feature of this room is the photos on the far wall. There are dozens that Sam has collected over the years since the Winchesters moved in to the Men of Letters’ stronghold.

Some of the photos are from the Winchester family photo album that Sam and Dean had retrieved from their old house; pictures of their parents, individually, together, and both with and without their sons. These occupy the space at Sam’s eye level on the left of the wall. There are a few photos of Sam and Dean as children, and teenagers, taken by Bobby. Sam had hesitated to include these, thinking they weren't quite within the scope of what he was trying to create here, but he knew the grouchy old hunter would have wanted them there as well.

And it wasn't as if the boys in those pictures hadn't been victims of the horrors in the Winchester’s lives.

Next are the pictures of Jess. There aren't many; most of what Sam had of her had burned, and so the quality of the remaining pictures is for the most part, abysmal. Cell phone pictures and a few that Sam had downloaded a few months ago from Jess’ mother’s Facebook. There is one good picture of Jess with him, taken on their first anniversary. Jess’ father had given it to Sam at the funeral, telling him it wasn't right Sam should be left with nothing from their time together. The gesture had started his tears anew, but he had been grateful and taken it with him, making sure to always keep it close.

There are a couple of pictures Bobby had taken in the Roadhouse; Jo laughing, Ash passed out, face down on the pool table in a small puddle of his own drool, Ellen pouring a beer and smiling at the camera. Bobby, looking startled; Jo had stolen the camera from him.

A single shot of Madison; Sam didn’t feel he had the right to include more.

Pamela Barnes; grinning towards the camera under opaque glasses, full of life.

A copy of Team Free Will’s “Last Night on Earth” picture, one that Dean didn’t even know Sam had. Sam had found it among Bobby’s things the last time the boys visited the scrapyard, along with several dozen photos of him and Dean growing up. 

There is one small picture of Gabriel, looking like his usual smug self. Sam might not have actually spent those six months chasing after the Trickster in the real world, but quite a lot of the footage and images he’d found all those years ago had been right there when he’d gone looking again. Sam didn't know if he'd forgiven the Trickster, didn't know how he would feel if Gabriel was resurrected and came back into their lives; but the Archangel had died for them, died for Sam, and he deserved to be remembered.

Anna Milton’s picture Sam had found in a paper from her hometown; dated a week or so after she had reclaimed her Grace. That one Sam had mixed feelings about, as with Gabriel’s picture, but in the end he had to concede both of them had tried, and that was better than almost any other angel had done.

Lisa and Ben have their spots on the wall. Though both were alive and happy, Dean had told Sam they would never see them again; and maybe Sam needed a spot of happiness, bittersweet though it may be, in this room. One Winchester who had escaped; who would live the life Sam could never have.

Adam takes up quite a bit of space; Sam had spent nearly a week in his half-brother’s hometown, asking around. From what he could tell, Adam and his mother had had good, normal lives, until John Winchester’s legacy had come back to destroy them. The guilt over his younger brother’s fate still ate at Sam. He’d spent more time bonding with Adam then he had even with Dean, after all; if almost two centuries of being tortured together counted as bonding. Sam thought it did. He and Adam had never turned on each other as Lucifer and Michael had in the Cage. His younger brother had never deserved the destiny that Sam and the Heavenly Host had forced him into.

There are a few more shots of Bobby, one with Rufus, the two of them deep in some kind of argument, beer bottles forgotten at their sides.

No matter where he had searched, Sam hadn't found a picture of Frank Devereux; the old man had been a master of what he did. In honour of the man who had saved both Winchesters from the Leviathans, there was a blank space on the wall.

Further along is a photo of Benny that Dean had apparently brought in and put up when Sam wasn't around; neither of them ever brought it up.

Castiel had contributed pictures of Balthazar, Meg and Samandriel’s vessels, quietly asking Sam to help him with them one day when Dean was out. Sam had done so gladly, knowing Dean still wouldn't admit to setting foot in the room, even for Cas.

Kevin’s pictures hurt the most; the loss and guilt still fresh in Sam’s mind. There was one taken by Linda Tran before Kevin had become a prophet; where he was just a wide eyed, baby faced high school kid; and one taken just a few weeks before he’d died when Dean had been trying to talk Kevin into a dating site. The difference was startling, and saddening in itself.

Sam takes in the room, gazes into the immortalized faces of dead family, dead friends, people who had died because of Sam’s and Dean’s failures. He takes a deep breath.

‘Hey guys,’ Sam says to the empty room. ‘I know it’s been a while. I’m sorry. Things have been a bit crazy lately.’

Sam sits. He has a lot to tell his lost friends, if only in spirit. Something seems to stir in the room, and for a moment, it’s as if Sam is not alone in the room, as if his words are being heard.

The sensation fades, and then it’s just one lonely hunter and a room of memories.

 **If you're not reading this on AO3 it has been stolen.**

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the feels
> 
> Also, the Bay Laurel is there because it's supposed to be used for communicating with the dead.
> 
> And I know there's technically no character death, but I figured that if someone is going to not read a fic because of character death they're not going to want to read this either. Better safe than sorry.


End file.
